Toy aeroplane



Sept. 4, 1934. N. E. WALKER TOY AEROPLANE Filed A ril 5. 1931 Nevill-Patented Sept. 4, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT opp-mg 1,972,117 'roYAEROPLANE .Nevilles E. Walker, Portland, Greg.

Application April 3, 1931, Serial No. 527,454

7 Claims. (01. 46-50) My invention relates to aeroplanes and gliderconstruction and primarily to small types used as toys. Becauseof thefact that the only type of motor sufllciently light and inexpensive andadapted to propel said toy planes is one made of a rubber band, saidtoys have limited flying ability. It is necessary, further, that thebody be made of extremely light construction, either I of wood such asbalsa, or of oiled silk or paper.

The object of my invention is to provide a plane of this character,which is susceptible of flying a reasonable distance relatively and yetone which is capable of being formed to correspond closely to thecontour and structure of standard planes.

I accomplish this result by forming the body of a single stick of balsawood turned to tapered form leaving only a sumcient shell to obtainsubstantial rigidity. The forward, larger diameter end is capped by anelement closely encircling said body,

r binding it to prevent distortion and breakage,

said cap further forming the mounting for the propeller shaft for suchplane. Extending into the rear end of said *plane is a removable cliparranged adjacent the tail skid, which with the end of the propellingshaft form the connecting elements to which the ends of the elasticmotor are secured. The intermediate portions of said band motorarehoused within the hollow body substantially along the median line ofthe latter.

so The wing element is arranged to pass below such.

motor, not only to provide clearance, but also to provide lateral andlongitudinal stability, in that it becomes possible to introduce asubstantial.

dihedral angle in the wing and still keep the line as of resistancerelatively low.

The body walls are arranged to yieldingly hold such wing element,because of the fact that the wing element is given curved contour andthe slots thru the walls of the body are lineal. The

40 distortion of the wings produced by forcibly arranging them in thewall slots yieldingly holds the wing element fixed in position whensubjected only to normal flight conditions, but yields to preventbreakage when the wing strikes a solid g5 object in flight, because theslots are substantially longer than the wing element to accommodatemovement.

The details of construction and operation are hereinafter described withreference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is'a longitudinal section thru said toy aeroplane;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section looking forward thru the wing; and Fig. 3is a perspective view of such plane.

My improved plane comprises a body a extending longitudinally of theplane and comprises a single integral element, tubular in section andtapered longitudinally. The forward end of the body terminates in aforwardly extending circular flange of relatively large diameter withrespect to the both; of the plane and the rearward end terminatesvirtually in a point a2. The latter end is slotted and holds theelements I), b and b2 forming the tail structure. The element 1) extendsvertically and the elements I) and b2 .extend outwardly at oppositesides and all of such parts are .of like shape. At the forward end twoangularly disposed truss-shaped braces c carry wheels 0' and form thelanding gear for the plane, such wheels being mounted upon laterallyextending axles 02.

Upon the upper portion of the body, I preferably provide an opening d,above which a piece of transparent material at and. astream line blockd2 are carried to simulate a cockpit.

The walls of said body are extremely thin to secure light weight andsaid body is preferably made of wood such as balsa wood. The latter woodlacks strength and to prevent the body from being crushed easily, a cape is provided, which cap is preferably made of a heavier section thanthe body. Such cap fits tightly over and seals the forwardly extendingflange a, thebounding flange e fitting tightly over the flange (1'. Thebody and cap being annular in section, the latter thus serves to resistdistortion, because of such tight flt and thus compressive strains uponsuch body are resisted by the bounding action of said cap.

The flanges e and a respectively are provided with a tongue e2 and agroove-a3, which engage each other to prevent rotation of such parts. Aninwardly projecting boss e3 is formed upon such cap and is'arranged toextend centrally towards the tubular body. A propeller f is carried bythe face of said cap upon a propelling shaft 17. Such shaft receivesbearing support from such cap by extending thru the boss e3, which ispreferably provided with a metallic cap e4 upon its inner face. Thepropeller is spaced from the head by a semi-spherical spacer f and theinner end of the propeller shaft 9 is formed into an eye 9'.

A tail skid piece h is arranged at the rear pointed end of the body aand beneath the tail structure elements b and b2.. A piece 2' of thebody hollow body to a point substantially upon the median line of suchbody. An elastic motor olementke'xtendslongitudinallyofthebodyandisfastenedatone endtotheeyea' formedupon the inner end of thepropellershaft a and is fastened at the other-end to the eye i of the 1clip j and thus extende'substantially the full le oi the Said c motorelement preferably comprjone or more 1 of rubber. uch as its'ection issubstan noiseless and such material is inensive and easily procured.Thus the propeller is dri by securing distor tion in said elastic motor.element, which when win in one direction upon release will rotate Y thepropeller opposi and" the plane will be driven thru the air. The clip isfree and removable with the piece i, so that the end of the elasticcured thereby may be removed with suchpie e to provide means for joiningsuch end to a mechcal win device. The other end of such'rubber band alsois removable for the se purpose, the cap and piece both being held avertical stall. j 1 3;

' to flights of standard aeroplanes. On the other hand it is relativelysimple to provide a. nose--- heavy-miniature plane, which is capable ofsus-.

tained horizontal flight under full motor power. when such power isexhausted at the end of its travel, the 'plane being nose-heavy divesfor the earth andnds nose-on, not only tending to break the parts, butalso to provide a landing which is not similar to one had with standardflying con-- ditions.

'A plane such as the one shown in the drawing issymmetrical about a.vertical plane and has good gliding ability and lateral stability. Goodlateral 1; stability is accentuated by a relatively large degree ofdihedral oflset in the wing element. Thus the center oi gravity is at apoint adjacent the median line of the body or slightly below. Thedihedral angle of the wings causes the center of resistance to forwardmotion to be at a point substantially I spaced above such center ofgravity. The thrust line of the propeller normally extends along a linecoincident with the median line of the body horizontal plane, or withreasonable upward climb. That is, if the thrust lineextendssubstantially thru the center of resistance, such compoundtipping force is eliminated and good flight conditions are. maintained.These theoretical lines, and centers are shown graphically in Fig. 1.

Said graphic showing thus discloses that the line. of resistance extendsabove the median line of the body and below the plane of the tips of thewing, the dihedral angle of said wing causing the e breakage.

1,978,117 I tipstoextendtoaplancsubstautlally'abcvothe bodyasisshbwninllg. 1. Thethrustline extends thru the axis of rotation of the propellerand makes an oblique angle with the line of resistshoe. The line ofresistance is parallel to the line of flight and to the median line ofthe body. but said line of resistance does not coincide with said medianline, the band motor k extendingsubstantially along said median line.Thecenter of resistance thus is that point on the line of resistancewhere the resisting factors forward of said point offset and balancethose factors lying aft of said point.

. To secure increased lift, the wing element 1 is given camber. Saidwing, to secure economy and to aid in its mounting, is preferably madeof uniform thickness. The slits m extending thru the body walls arepreferably lineal, or formed upon a curvature difierent than the aregiven the wings to produce such camber. The wings are distorted, thatis, flattened in the specific device illustrated, so that they may passthru said lineal slots. Such elements are distortable and are elasticand thus tend to resume their horizontal curved iorm, which tendingbinds them tightly in said slots. 1 Said slots are oi substantiallygreater length than the width of the wing and thus said wing ispermitted-to yield when struck relatively by a solid,

as in flight or in lending conditions, thereby to 1 claim:

i. In a toy aeroplane of the character described provided with alongitudinal body and a single lateral wing element, said aeroplanebeing symmetrical about a longitudinal vertical plane and having glidingstability and a propeller arranged at the forward end of said body andmounted upon a. longitudinal axisextending along a. line obliquelyintersecting the line of resistance and passing substantially-thru thecenter of resistance of said aeroplane.

2. In a toy aeroplane of the character described provided with alongitudinal body and a single lateral wing element, said aeroplanebeing symmetrical about a longitudinal vertical plane and having glidingstability, and having its center of resistance substantially above itscenter of gravity and a propeller arranged at the forward end ofsaid-body and mounted upon a longitudinal axis extending along a lineobliquely intersecting the line of resistance and passing substantiallythru the center of resistance of said aeroplane.

3. In a toy aeroplane of the character described provided with alongitudinal body and a single 180 lateral wing element, said aeroplanebeing symmetrical about a longitudinal vertical plane and having'glidingstability. said wing element provided with a substantial percentage ofdihedral oilset resulting in the aeroplane having its center ofresistance substantially above its center of gravity and a propellerarranged at the forward end of said body and mounted upon a longitudinalaxis extending along a line obliquely intersecting the line ofresistance and passing substa'n- .than the cross-section 0! said wing,the latter different shape than the cross-section oi. "said wing, thelatter being elastic and distortable, whereby seating said wing in saidslot under pressure to distort the latter binds said wing elementyieldably in said slot, the elasticity of said wing being suflicient tocause the portions thereof spaced from said slot to resume their normalcurved section.

5. In an aeroplane of the character described provided with alongitudinal body and a transverse wing element carried thereby, saidwing element comprising one continuous element of uniform thickness andcurved laterally to provide such wing element with camber, a linear slotformed in the side wall of said body for receiving and constituting thesole means for holding said wing element, said slot being of diflerentshape than the cross-section oi! said wing, the latter being elastic anddistortable,

whereby seating said wing in said slot under being elastic anddistortable, whereby seating said wing in said slots under pressure todistort the latter frictionally binds said wing element yieldably insaid slots, the elasticity of said wing being sumcient to cause theportions thereof spaced from said slot to resume their undistortedsection respectively.

7. In an aeroplane of the character described provided with alongitudinal body and a transverse wing element carried thereby, saidbody being hollow and annular in section, and of substantial diameter atthe point of connection with said wing element, said wing elementcomprising one continuous element of uniiorm thickness and curvedlaterally to provide such wing element with camber, linear slots formedin the side walls of said hollow body for receiving and trictionallyholding said wing element, said slots being of substantially greaterlength than the width of said wing element, said slots being ofdiilerent shape than the cross-section of said wing, the latter beingelastic and distortable, whereby seating said wing in said slots underpressure to distort the latter binds said wing element yieldably in saidslots, the elasticity of said wing being suflicient to cause the portionthereof spaced from said slot to resume their undistorted sectionrespectively.

NEVILLES E. WALKER.

